Saying hello on Day One
by ANNAFLORINDA
Summary: Modern, AU. Follows the relationship between Sybil Crawly and Tom Branson from the day they meet and how their relationship develops over time.
1. Day 1

I do not own Downton Abbey. Modern AU, following the relationship between Sybil and Tom. Please, read and review. :)

 **Day 1**

Sybil Crawley was making her way to the school. It was her first day as a teacher there and she really did want to make a good first impression, on the staff and children alike. Both of her elder sisters had assured her that she would be fine, as had her parents, but that did not meant that she believed them. As she entered the staff room, she was instantly struck by how few teachers were in there and she made her way to the kettle to make herself a cup of tea. Her father had been disappointed when she had decided to become a teacher, but it was her passion, so she had followed it and it made her happy, so she did not care what he had thought. Her files suddenly dropped out of the folder and scattered themselves all over the floor and Sybil blushed before rushing to the floor to collect them, grateful that there were no other teachers present.

"Do you want a hand with that?" inquired an Irish voice, which made her want to melt with joy. She looked up to the speaker and saw a young man standing there, in a suit and tie. He smiled kindly, as he kneeled down next to her and helped her to gather the papers. As he passed them to her, their hands touched and Sybil felt as if she were being electrocuted. Suddenly embarrested, she stood up and said, "Thank-you." The placed the file down on the chair and proceded to make a cup of tea, hoping that the young man would take the hint and leave her alone, but he did not and she internally sighed.

He sat down on the chair next to her file and asked, "It's your first day, right? I can tell. I'm sure you'll be fine, you don't have to be so nervous." Sybil turned to look at him and smiled weakly, before turning to him properly and saying, "I'm Sybil Crawly, I'm the new Politics and R.E teacher here. What about you, what do you teach?" As her eyes fell upon his, she began to notice how his hair was parted and how his lips were formed, so she forced herself to look back at cup of tea which she was preparing for herself.

"I'm Tom. I'm a History teacher. I moved here a couple of months ago." After a long silence, he stood up and offered to show her to her classroom. Trying to hide her blush, she accepted, picked up her file and followed him. They walked in silence, but the silence was a comfortable one and Sybil began to feel as if she had known him for years, rather than a couple of minutes. When they reached classroom where she was based, Tom cleared his throat and tried to fight against his nerves. "Sybil, I-I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me, tomorrow." He paused, then looked up at her and asked, "Would you like that?"

Sybil smiled and she nodded. "Yeah, ok. I'll see you tomorrow, then, Tom." With that, she walked into her classroom, leaving Tom smiling at her acceptance.


	2. Day 2

**Day 2.**

The next morning, Sybil was pulled out of her thoughts when there was a knock at her front door and, much to her surprise, she saw that it was one of her elder sisters, Mary. Mary had married her on-off boyfriend, Matthew, and they now had four sons together. Their other sister, Edith, was not married, but she had adopted a toddler, whom she had named Nelly. "Wow, Sybil, you do look nice!" Mary remarked as she stepped into her sister's little flat. "What's the occasion?"

Sybil was silent for a while, unsure whether she should tell her sister or not, before deciding and replying, "This guy at work, Tom, asked me out for lunch yesterday and I accepted. He-he helped me in the staff room, you see, and we started talking." She bit her lip, worried that her sister would not approve of her becoming friends with Tom, but Mary simply smiled and hugged her. "That's great. Do you like him?"

Blushing, her younger sister nodded. "Yeah, I do. I really do. Well, I'll let you know how it goes." She picked up her bag and left her flat, leaving Mary smiling to herself; Sybil had never had a relationship and, unlike Mary and Edith, she had had no desire to do so and Mary was glad that she had finally met someone whom she liked in that way and she knew that their parents would also be pleased.

As lunchtime approached, Tom found that he was becoming very nervous. He really did want to make a good impression with Sybil and he really wanted her to like him as much as he liked her. When the bell rang, he made his way to Sybil's classroom and waited for her, smoothing down his hair as he waited. The door opened and the students left the classroom. Tom glanced into the room and saw Sybil staring down at her hands, looking very nervous. He could not but notice how beautiful she looked, standing as she was with the sun beaming through the window onto her dark, long hair. He cleared his throat to alert her of his presence and she looked up and smiled, blushing slightly. In a composed voice, she said, "I'll get my bag and we can be off." She turned away, as she did not want him to see how nervous she was.

Sybil and Tom went to a café which was a 5-minute walk away from the school and Sybil felt comfortable there, as she had gone there once before with her mother. They both ordered a sandwich, then Tom said, "So, tell me about yourself-where did you grow up?"

"I grew up in Yorkshire, with my parents and sisters. They're both older than me. Mary, the eldest, married a couple of years ago and she and her husband now have four children."

Tom smiled at that. "Do you enjoy being an aunt, then?"

Sybil smiled at the memory of when her mother had called her, telling her that she was an aunt and the memory of that feeling brought tears of joy to her eyes, as she replied, "Yes, I am. I love all of my nephews so much. I was so relieved when Mary and Matthew finally married- you see, they'd been dating on and off for years and then, finally, Matthew proposed and they got married. They had a very big wedding, but it was lovely. My other sister isn't married, but she does have a daughter, whom she adopted, named Nell. She's lovely, too, and I love her very much." Sybil laughed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling. Tell me about you, Tom." Without thinking, one of her hands touched against his and their eyes met and they held the gaze for a while, before Tom moved his hand.

"Well, I grew up in Wicklow, Ireland, with my mum, brother and sisters. My dad-he-he died when I was a baby, so I've never known him, but I had my mum and my siblings. All of my siblings are married now and some of them have children, so I love being with my nieces and nephews, like you." He added with a smile.

The conversation continued this, with the two of them getting to know the other and they both felt very happy and comfortable with the other. As their lunch-hour reached the end, they made their way back to the school and agreed to meet in a couple of days. As they reached the gates, before her nerves failed her, Sybil moved her face closer to his and kissed him on the check. As she did so, she closed her eyes to soak up the moment, before finishing and searching his eyes. Tom smiled back at her, glad that she had kissed him, as it showed that she felt that way about him, which gladdened his heart. There was a silence, then Sybil said, "I'll have a look at cinema times and we'll see what we can go and see together. How does that sound?"

"It sounds perfect, Sybil." He pronounced her name in a whisper and it made her feel very happy. Their eyes met again and they smiled at each other, before turning to the school and returning to their classes. They also exchanged mobile phone numbers, so that they could stay in touch with each other when they were not at school.

At the end of the day, Sybil called Mary and told her all of what had happened between her and Tom over lunch time and that they were going to go to see a film together soon, as another date. She also told Mary that she had kissed Tom on the check and, at that, Mary smiled, as she knew that Sybil would not have been bold enough to kiss Tom on the lips and he had obviously not had the courage either.


	3. Day 14

**This is my first D.A story. Please read and review :)**

 **Day 14.**

12 days later, on a Saturday, Sybil texted Tom, asking him if he wanted to go to see a film that afternoon. At school, they had started to always have lunch together and Sybil was now certain that he was the one with whom she wanted to be. Within a couple of seconds, Tom replied affirmatively and Sybil beamed with joy.

A couple of hours later, Sybil saw Tom's car pull up outside of her block of flats and she grabbed her bag and made her way to meet him. As she reached him, their eyes met again. Mary expressed her surprise that the two of them had still not kissed, but it did not bother Sybil. Tom leaned closer to her and slowly kissed her on the check again, before smiling and leading her to his car.

The film was a very good one and, as the film reached its end, Tom took hold of Sybil's hand and squeezed it. Sybil turned to look at him and saw affection in his eyes and she hoped that her eyes showed this and when Tom smiled at her, she knew that they indeed did. When the film ended, Tom seemed to become more tense and he sighed. "Sybil, if you're sure you want to be with me, there's something you need to know about me."

Frowning, Sybil asked, "What's that, because there's nothing I could find out about you which would change how I feel about you, Tom. Nothing." She looked into his eyes so that he understood that she meant it and she really did. He simply nodded, then asked, "Do you mind if I take you back to mine? There's something I have to show you."

Very confused, Sybil nodded and smiled gently again, as she could tell that he was very nervous about whatever he was going to show her. She had no idea about what he was going to show her, but she knew that to ask would be a bad idea, as he was very nervous.

Tom's house was on the outskirts of town. It was a small house, with two bedrooms, but it did have a garden and Sybil smiled as she saw that the garden was well-kept and knew that her mother would approve of the garden. Tom led her into the house, holding her hand and this made Sybil smile, as it was another sign of affection. As they entered the kitchen, she saw that there was a woman there and, judging by her age and how she looked, she guessed that she was Tom's mum. Her guess was confirmed when she heard the woman speak. She smiled as she said, "You must be Sybil. It's so nice to meet you. I'm Carla, Tom's mum." Sybil instantly liked her and smiled to say hello.

As she was about to ask Carla a question about what she did for a living, the kitchen door opened and a little girl, with dark hair, who looked about 4 ran into the room. "Daddy, you're home!" She ran over to Tom, who caught her in his arms and picked her up into his arms. Sybil bit her lip, wondering what the story behind this little girl was. Instead of waiting to be told and standing there in silence, she smiled at the little girl. "Hello. I'm Sybil. What's your name?"

The little girl titled her head, as a dog did when it was curious about something, and her brown eyes surveyed Sybil for a while, before she smiled and answered, "I'm Rosa. You must be Sybil, Daddy talks about you all the time." Sybil saw Tom blush and she felt herself blushed.

Tom kissed his daughter on the head, then suggested, "Darling, how about you go to your room and let Granny read you a story? I'll be through soon." The little girl hugged her dad, dropped to the floor and led her grandmother out of the kitchen.

Tom sat down and sighed, running his hands through his hair. Sybil sat down and smiled, "She's a very sweet girl." She paused, then asked, "Where's her mother?" She took hold of his hands and squeezed them, in order to give him strength to tell her the truth.

"Rosa's mother walked out on us after she was born," Tom replied in a low voice, "she sent the divorce papers through and that was that. Rosa's never met her mother and, to be honest, I doubt she ever will. I couldn't take care of her alone, so my mum came over to help take care of her. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Sybil. I really like you and I thought that, if I told you, you'd look at me differently and"-

He was cut off by Sybil kissing him passionately. He responded with equal passion and their hands in entwined in each other's. Their passionate kiss finally ended and their eyes met and they both smiled. "Tom, I want to be with you and I love kids, so I'm sure I'll love Rosa." They kissed again, before Sybil decided that she had to go home. They kissed each other goodbye and they parted ways.


End file.
